Back in Action review (2025)

Back in Action has too much going for it to feel so unsatisfying.

The premise is decent. Two elite spies get out of the game once they start a family but get brought back in action after a random series of coincidences. It’s definitely got the star power with leads Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz along with solid supporting performances from Kyle Chandler and Glenn Close. So why does it feel like it loses its way midway through?

Ironically not relying enough on Foxx and Diaz. While their romantic chemistry is questionable, Diaz and Foxx are a lot of fun playing off each other. They’ve done this style of action comedy before. Back in Action is at its best when they’re given the spotlight. There’s no obvious tension as one thinks they’re the bigger star than the other. They have a strong give and take with who sets up a joke and who spikes it in one scene before switching roles the next. With likable stars like Diaz and Foxx there’s no need to balance out the screen time to make it more of an ensemble.

Foxx (The Burial) and Diaz play Matt and Emily, two CIA spies with a knack for always completing their missions with minimal property damage. Take that 007! With their handler, Chuck (Kyle Chandler) navigating them, the pair track down a game-changing drive device that could be a deadly weapon in the wrong hands.

En route back to the States, Emily breaks the news that she’s pregnant. Matt is happy to start a family with her. After barely surviving their last mission, they decide it’s time to lean into everything thinking their dead and trade their guns and gadgets for soccer practice and field trips.

Fast forward 15 years and Matt and Emily are dealing with their moody 15-year-old daughter, Alice (McKenna Roberts), who is the cliche bratty, annoying teenager who thinks her folks are lame. At least Matt and Emily still get some respect from their son, Leo (Rylan Jackson), who’s basically glued to his tablet.

Matt and Emily bust Alice lying to them and partying at a club, but it’s they who get busted after the antics at the club go viral. It doesn’t take any time for the bad guys to come out of the woodwork trying to snatch the drive.

Fearing their new lives have been blown up for good, Matt and Emily grab the kids and head to England to the only person they can still trust — Emily’s mother, Ginny (Close).

Director/co-screenwriter Seth Gordon (Baywatch) handles the action sequences adequately. There’s nothing on the insane spectrum of mind-blowing stunts like a Fast and Furious or Mission: Impossible franchise, but there is some decent action. The caveat of this being an action comedy allows for some less intense explosive spectacles.

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Gordon and co-screenwriter Brendan O’Brien craft some good lines largely when Back in Action is focused on Matt and Emily trying and failing to keep their past from their children.

Diaz hasn’t starred in a film since the 2014 Annie movie (available on Blu-Ray on Amazon), but her action-comedy instincts are still sharp. And she still looks credible pulling off the physical action sequences that aren’t done by a stunt person. Foxx plays a bit more reserved than his norm, but he’s still an engaging lead while Roberts and Jackson have no problem holding their end up.

Outside of a few quirky, brief cameos that’s the full dynamic the film needed. Instead, Gordon and O’Brien keep adding in more characters like Emily’s ex Baron (Andrew Scott), an MI-6 agent still holding a torch for her, Baron’s MI-6 partner Wendy (Fola Evans-Akingbola) and Ginny’s younger boyfriend Nigel (Jamie Demetriou).

With a run time just under two hours, Back in Action starts to rapidly lose steam by the midway point. It’s never a good thing when a film feels like it’s reaching its obvious winding down act only to see there’s 40 more minutes to go. To help pad the film out, Gordon and O’Brien lean heavily on comic relief from Nigel, which come off more desperate for laughs than genuinely funny moments.

Back in Action doesn’t feature its headliners enough to truly succeed. Its basic setup requires most of the heavy lifting to be done by the A-listers who end up sharing too much of the load with their supporting cast.

Rating: 5 out of 10

Photo Credit: Netflix

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